Portable pill container

ABSTRACT

A portable pill container includes a bubble package with a paper or foil backing and an adhesive or magnetic material affixed to the backing. This adhesive or magnetic material allows the portable pill container to be affixed to a stationary or movable surface, such as a refrigerator, medicine cabinet, automobile dash, or lining of a purse, back-pack, or book bag. The affixable material (adhesive, magnetic, or hook and latch) allows a user to remove the pill container from the surface to which it was affixed so that the user may dispense medication from the pill container. The affixable material may be placed along an outer edge of a surface of the pill container, allowing the medication to simultaneously be pushed through the surface and the opening of the pill container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention is related in general to the field of medication dispensers. In particular, the invention consists of a device for carrying one or more pills which includes adhesive or magnetic material.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A wide variety of pill dispensers are known in the art. Medication may be stored or transported in bottles, boxes, or blister-packages. A traditional blister pack may include a transparent plastic bubble adhered to a paper or foil backing. When a user wishes to remove the medication from the blister pack, he or she simply peels the backing material away from the bubble portion of the package. Alternatively, a user may push the bubble, and therefore the medication, towards the backing so as to push the medication through the backing material.

These traditional blister packs of medication are usually formed into a flat layer or sheet of multiple blister packs. These sheets of blister packages are normally packaged in cardboard boxes for sale and transportation. If a user wishes to take the attendant medication with him, he would either carry the entire box of medication in his book bag, back-pack, computer bag, or glove box of a vehicle. Likewise, a female user may carry the box of medication in her purse. Alternatively, the male or female user may elect to separate some of the blisters packs from a sheet of blister packs and take these few packages of medication with them.

A problem occurs, however, when a user wishes to use a medication but cannot locate one or more of the corresponding packages. This could happen if one or more blister packs of medication were mixed in with other miscellaneous items in a vehicle's glove box or a user's purse, making it difficult to find. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a device for transporting medication to reduce the likelihood of the medication becoming lost or difficult to find. One method is to affix the medication packaging to a designated surface so that it can be transported with the user. As such, it is desirable to have a device for transporting medication which can be removably attached to fabric, vinyl, magnetic material, or other type of surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed herein employs an adhesive or magnetic material to removably affix a medication package to a surface. This surface may be a stationary designated location such as a refrigerator or medicine cabinet of a home. Alternatively, the surface may located on a movable item such as a purse or vehicle so as to be portable.

One aspect of the invention is the placement of the adhesive, magnetic, or hook and latch material on a foil or paper backing surface of a blister package designed to allow medication to be pushed therethrough. If the adhesive or magnetic surface is placed in a manner that forms an opening therethrough, the medication may be pushed through the opening in the adhesive or magnetic surface while it is pushed through the foil or paper backing material of the blister package.

Various other purposes and advantages of the invention will become clear from its description in the specification that follows and from the novel features particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Therefore, to the accomplishment of the objectives described above, this invention comprises the features hereinafter illustrated in the drawings, fully described in the detailed description of the preferred embodiments and particularly pointed out in the claims. However, such drawings and description disclose just a few of the various ways in which the invention may be practiced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric side view of a portable pill container, according to the invention, which includes an affixable material mounted to a surface of the portable pill container

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the portable pill container of FIG. 1, wherein the affixable material is placed in a manner forming an opening through which medication may be discharged.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention is based on the idea of using an adhesive or magnetic material to removably affix a medication package to a stationary or portable surface. Referring to the figures, wherein like numerals indicate like elements of the invention, FIG. 1 illustrates a pill container 10, according to the invention, which includes an affixable material 12 mounted to a mounting surface 14 of the pill container 10. In this example of the invention, the pill container is a blister package including a hard plastic bubble 16 and a mounting surface comprised of paper or foil backing. This pill container 10 may have been removed from a sheet of multiple pill containers, such as may be found in a box of medication.

The affixable material 12 may include an adhesive material, a magnetic material, or a hook-and-latch material, so long as the affixable material allows a user to removably affix the pill container 10 to a designated surface. An example of the use of this inventions in this embodiment, is to removably affix the pill container 10 to the front face of a refrigerator. This allows the user to locate the medication, when needed, by looking in the designated location. Another use may be to removably affix the pill container to the inside or outside of the door of a medicine cabinet. When needed, the user may remove the pill container from the designated surface by pulling the pill container away from the designated surface. The affixable material may be designed to be removed from the designated surface with the pill container or to remain on the designated surface when the pill container is removed.

If the pill container remains on the designated surface when the pill container is removed, then the pill container may alternatively be used to store, hold, or display medication in a prominent or convenient location, such as a refrigerator, purse, or vehicle, while allowing a user to replace the medication when it reaches its expiration date.

Another use of this invention is the removable affixture of the pill container 10 to a movable surface so as to transport the pill container, and its attendant medication, with the user. For example, a pill container 10 may be removably affixed to the lining of a purse, back-pack, or book bag using an affixable material 12 consisting of an adhesive. Additionally, the pill container 10 may be removably affixed to a briefcase, toolbox, duffle-bag, or the like. This adhesive may be designed to form a primary bond with the mounting surface 14 and a minor bond with the lining of the purse, back-pack, or book bag allowing the pill container 10 and the affixable material 12 to be removed from the lining.

In another embodiment of the invention, the affixable material 12 may include a hook-and-latch connector which removably affixes to the lining. Or, a mating piece of hook-and-latch material may be placed on the movable surface to facilitate the placement and subsequent removal of the pill container 10 to and from the movable surface. In yet another embodiment of the invention, affixable material 12 may include a magnet, allowing the pill container to be removably affixed to metallic, ferrous, and other magnetic surfaces.

An important aspect of the invention is the placement of the affixable material along so as to form an opening, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Here, the affixable material 12 has been formed into a roughly circular shape and affixed to the mounting surface 14. If the pill container 10 is a traditional blister package, the contents of the pill container 10 may be discharged from the pill container through the backing material 14 and the opening created by the affixable material.

Those skilled in the art of making pill containers may develop other embodiments of the present invention. However, the terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow. 

1. A pill container, comprising: a compartment adapted to hold a pill including a mounting surface; and an affixable material applied to the mounting surface adapted to removably affix the pill container to a target surface.
 2. The pill container of claim 1, wherein the target surface is a movable surface.
 3. The pill container of claim 1, wherein the mounting surface includes a backing material through which the pill may be discharged from the pill container.
 4. The pill container of claim 3, wherein the affixable material is adapted to form an opening through which the pill may be discharged from the pill container.
 5. The pill container of claim 1, wherein the pill container is a blister package.
 6. The pill container of claim 1, wherein the affixable material includes an adhesive material.
 7. The pill container of claim 1, wherein the affixable material includes a hook-and-latch material.
 8. The pill container of claim 1, wherein the affixable material includes a magnet.
 9. The pill container of claim 4, wherein the affixable material includes an adhesive material.
 10. The pill container of claim 4, wherein the affixable material includes a hook-and-latch material.
 11. The pill container of claim 4, wherein the affixable material includes a magnet. 